Recognizing the importance of improving the high school graduation rate of foster youth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1208 on foster care youth aging out of care, an important resolution before us today. I join my colleagues in support of the more than 500,000 children who are in foster care today and in support of this resolution. I hope we can craft substantive bipartisan legislation to help address the challenges in our Nation's foster care system.

One of the greatest challenges is helping the more than 24,000 youth who age out of foster care each year. Projected outcomes for too many of these young people are sobering: lower high school graduation rates, higher rates of homelessness, and a higher chance of becoming incarcerated than of other youth of their own age.

In hearings before our subcommittee, the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, which I serve as ranking member, we have been privileged to hear from many outstanding young men and women who have personally shared their personal stories of life in our Nation's child welfare system.

For instance, Jamal Nutall, a young man from the congressional district which I represent, has worked as an intern in my office. He testified before our subcommittee about the challenges he faced in foster care and the progress he was making towards completing his college education. More recently, we heard from Misty Stenslie with the Foster Care Alumni Association which represents former foster youth. Listening to these stories and understanding what they tell us reveals how much more needs to be done to help those who spend the longest time in foster care, including the thousands who age out of the system each year.

A good place to start would be to ensure that every young person in foster care completes at least their high school diploma. Last year, I introduced House Resolution 733, which recognizes the importance of improving the high school graduation rate of foster youth. I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) for being one of the bipartisan cosponsors of this legislation. We can and should make improving the educational outcomes of foster youth a key test in measuring any legislation designed to help foster children.

Congress is not alone in recognizing the importance of high school graduation for today's youth. America's Promise Alliance, an organization founded by former Secretary of State and General Colin Powell and his wife, has launched a dropout prevention campaign to combat the Nation's high school dropout crisis. The Alliance noted alarming statistics in an April 2008 report. Nearly one in three U.S. high school students drops out before graduating. Approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year, and about 7,000 students drop out each and every day.

To improve the high school graduation rate of foster youth, increased coordination between child welfare and educational agencies is necessary. New foster family placements should not necessarily mean a new school, and foster children should have to be able to remain in a single school in their own community so they can build lasting relationships with friends, teachers, and mentors.

All these steps can and should contribute to raising graduation rates and increasing chances of future success for foster children, especially those who age out of the system.

I urge all Members to join me in supporting this important resolution today. But we should also commit ourselves to producing bipartisan legislation to improve the Nation's foster care and child welfare programs and improving the high school graduation rates and other educational outcomes for children in foster care. Without that simple step, too many will continue to face a desperate future. We owe them far better.

Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time. I urge bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join with my colleague and friend John Lewis in fighting to do what is right for America's foster kids.

Every year, an estimated 24,000 foster kids reach their 18th birthday. Instead of a celebration, they hit a dead end. Try and remember what it was like when you were 18 years old. As it stands today for foster kids, the support system simply stops for those kids on the day at a point when they are not quite ready for everything they are going to face in the world. No place to live, no money for food, no money to go on for education, no place to live while they finish high school. All of those things are what face our youngsters in foster care today when they hit 18 in many States in this country.

Many of these children do not have access to critical support services like health care. If they are on medication, it ends that day.

They don't get the Medicaid, they don't get the coverage after that. There is no transition for these young people at all. Many are not connected to an adult who can serve as a mentor or someone who can be someone to get advice from when they go on. The system simply discards them. Not surprisingly, trouble can be the end result. Far too many become disconnected from the educational system and the labor force and become much of the homeless that we see on the streets of our city. Many of them wind up in our jails.

When the State removes a child from their biological parents because of abuse or neglect and places that child in foster care, we become the foster parents. Now, most of us did not have parents who threw us out on our own on the day we were 18. In fact, the whole boomerang idea of going back to your parents when you've been through college is very common in this country. We continue to have contact with our children when they're gone, after they're 18. Eighteen is not some magic date. And I believe a child in foster care deserves no less than anyone else's children. So we have some work to do to deliver on that promise, and we can take a big step by approving this bill.

Like many other young people, foster kids need the guidance and support of a caring adult that will last a lifetime. It's our job to make that happen. One way is to transition a child out of the system. We should make sure that when a child leaves foster care, they have a connection with someone, perhaps a lost sibling or some other relative that can be a source of love and support for them. Nurturing doesn't stop at 18, and if it continues, the odds for that foster kid doing well rise dramatically.

We should also provide a significant support system for these children after they become 18. The Chafee Foster Care Independence Program was partly designed to fill this need. But additional supports are needed to provide these young people with skills and resources they need to become successful adults. It's time for Congress to follow suit and ensure that when a child leaves foster care they have an opportunity to prosper as an adult.

I thank Congressman Lewis for offering this important resolution, and urge my colleagues to support it and to work with us to strengthen our Nation's foster care system, so that young people who age out of the system are not thrown out of it but instead have the same opportunities that other kids have.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1208) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that youth who age out of foster care should be given special care and attention.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 1208.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today to ask my colleagues to support House Resolution 1208. This

resolution is very simple. It recognizes the many problems that face young people who spend time in foster care, and it thanks the many others who work to ease their transition from foster care to adulthood and independence.

In Georgia, there are thousands of children in foster care. Living in foster care is not a choice. These young people of all races, ages, and backgrounds were victims of neglect and abuse. Child welfare services share a common goal of finding safe, stable, and loving homes for these young people. Unfortunately, this dream is not always realized.

I have the privilege to serve on the Ways and Means Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee chaired by my good friend and colleague, Mr. McDermott of Washington.

Last year, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) invited two young people from our congressional district to testify about what it is like to transition from foster care to adulthood. Anthony Reeves and Shalita O'Neal both aged out of the Georgia foster care system. They shared with us how difficult it is to find housing, health care, education, liveable wages, jobs, security, and stability.

At a young age, when most are still relying on financial and emotional support from their parents and family, these young people have no one to fall back on. Mr. Speaker, these are the stories that break your heart.

Today, we honor those like Anthony and Shalita, and Kevin Brown, a recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University, who are determined to find their way despite so many problems before them.

We also pay tribute to the mentors, volunteers, parents, organizations, and many others who fill in the gaps in Federal and State coverage to help these young people during the most difficult times of their young lives.

Most important, this resolution sends a message to the half million young people currently in the foster care system. Congress tells them: You are not alone. We love you. We support you. You are not forgotten. There is hope. You will survive. And you will succeed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I urge all of my colleagues to support this very simple resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I now recognize the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), the chairman of the subcommittee, for such time as he may consume.

(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers. I urge all my colleagues to support this resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.